Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-07-14


thing awful had happened. didn't
know what it was. knOwed the wa
ter had come up to shut us off; but
how much further it might come no
body could know. We all knew the
cause of it. We knew the mine had
been flooded or the pump had broke.
The diamond was going all right.
though, and we knew that the force
was all right, and the connection good.
The blower that gave us air was
also workin'. Think of that little
blower drivin' air down to us l..
$50 feet straight and over 800 feet
farther into the drift. Pretty soon the
air that drove the diamond drills
stopped. Then we got scared. Bill
Benthan went down to the waters
edge again and simply said: She's
comm up, boys. Where's the cold air
pipe" We cut off the diamond-drill
connection. and. my God! what a
grateful blast of air. Thank Godr
said Bill the blower is going. Come
up here, boys. and get some breath.
We four sat around that air-pipe,
and our noses chung to it in turn.
I dare not tell you what we all
talked about. Nobody expected to
get out alive. Bill, the boss, once took
a pick and said he'd smash the brains
of two of us if the other would kill him
and then kill himself. Then Bill sug-
gcsted that so long as strength held
out, we drill on one of the unfinished
holes, load it with giant and all go
up in a bolloon together. This idea
was accepted. and Jim Allen began to
work hand-drill. The rest of US sat
there with our noses to the air-pipe.
Pretty soon l heard a click on the
pipe. 1t was tap-tap.' l picked up
hammer and hit the pipe three times.
Back came the answer-three taps. l
shouted: Boys, they know we're here!
How we yelled and danced! We hud-
died around that air-pipe, and every
ten seconds or so, 'click-click' came
the echo of the hammer. We replied.
They didn't exactly know who we
were down there, and in the hope that
one of us might understand telegraph
signals they sent up and got an
operator from the telegraph Office,
and he banged away with the signals,
but we didn't understand it.
The most joyous sound on earth
for the hours we were imprisoned
there was the sound of that click
click. over the pipe. 1t was simply
the signal of hope. We did not know
what the trouble was, but that click
click assured us that Superintendent
Boyle was doing all he could. For
tunstely. we had candles, and were not
in darkness. We had some tobacco,
but could only chew it. Air was too
precious to indulge in smoke. We had
nothing to eat. We did have a great
tub of ice, and how we treasured it as
it melted. The draft was insu1erably
hot, and we kept our noses to the pipe
and breathed the pure air forced down.
We learned afterward how excited the
whole Pacific coast was at our fate.
Women came and kneeled At that little
blower engine and prayed Heaven that
it would not break. 1t did not. If it
is possible for a man to love a piece of
machinery, love that little brown dish
that sent a current of life-saving air to
us over two thousand feet. That little
engine is running at the Alta Mine to-
day. and I'll git of the train at Reno
any time to go over and see it.
"Well, we were cagsd up there six
ty hours without any thing to eat The
ice went in ten hours. so we had to
drink the hot water from the drift
But we kept banging away at the pipe
with our signals. And all night and
all day those faithful fellows on top
stood and clicked, clicked away to en-
courage u.s."
What was the cause of the delay?"
: They had to send to San Francisco
for machinery to repair the big pump.
They sent a special engine, had the
foundry work ali night. had the piece
sent up by another special engine, and
after nearly three days OF mortal an
guish and starvation - nearly three
days of hopeless entombment a quarter
of mile below the earth's surface
we were rescued.
The clicks along the pipe had been
well kept up, but in the last few hours
they came with rattle. Then we
knew the end was near. Bill, the
boss, took his ear from the pipe and
he said: 'Goatch. believe she's
workin',' meaning the big pump. He
darted down the inclined crOss-cut,
and there came yell Of delight that
nearly froze us. She's wOrkin', boys;
she's wOrkin'. The water is goin'
down. There you, Groatch. jam your
ear to the pipe and sec if you can't
near it, l damned my ear up. and
. sure enough 1 could just catch the
throb. throb Of the big engine. /
yelled: "All right, Bill, she's workin'.'
and the clicks along the pipe came
faster than ever. We knew We were
saved! Down on yosr knees. boys!'
said Bill. You don't deserve to live